Vol. 16, No. 36	July 10, 1997

Research shows 3-step program helps
drug offenders stay clean

In a study of 448 drug-involved inmates released from Delaware's Gander Hill prison, a model, three-step treatment program helped 77 percent avoid arrest for at least 18 months, while 47 percent remained drug free, UD researchers reported in the most rece nt Journal of Drug Issues.

By comparison, prison-based drug treatment onlyÐwith no follow-up care in a community settingÐkept 22 percent of inmates straight, while 43 percent were not arrested for a year and a half, said James A. Inciardi, criminal justice, who directs the Center f or Drug and Alcohol Studies.

Among a third group of subjects who received no treatment at all, Inciardi added, the statistics were predictably dismal. Given no care, only 16 percent of the offenders remained drug free and 46 percent stayed out of jail for 18 months, he said. Those wh o received no treatment were far more likely to drink too much alcohol, he noted.

Inciardi's research teamÐ including Steven S. Martin, Clifford A. Butzin, Robert M. Hooper and Lana D. HarrisonÐ conducted lengthy interviews to document each subject's criminal and drug-abuse history, sexual activity, psychosocial and mental health statu s and sociodemographic background.

The researchers also analyzed blood and urine samples to assess drug and alcohol use among the inmates. Drugs and crime often go hand in hand, the researchers noted. In fact, they concluded, "street drugs seem to lock users into patterns of criminality th at are more acute, dynamic, unremitting and enduring than those of other offenders."

The study compared graduates of KEY, a prison-based treatment program at Gander Hill prison, with those who also participated in the community-based CREST program for work-release candidates. These results were then compared with data collected before the treatment programs were established. Drug-involved offenders seem to stay straight longer when they complete a three-step programÐmoving from the general prison population to a cloistered treatment group inside the facility and finally into a community-b ased setting.

The UD-managed CREST program, directed by Inciardi, was launched in 1990, thanks to a multimillion-dollar grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. To date, more than 550 persons have received treatment through the CREST program.

--Ginger Pinholster

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